Sakura's Evolution
by InnerCherry
Summary: A different look on our favorite female of Team 7, and the Naruto story as well. A story about finding yourself growing up all over again. Non-mass. SakuxTeam7, friendship
1. Reality Check

**I've decided to break from my last story, so, here is a new one. It's how I would have preferred things to have gone concerning Sakura.**

**Thus I give you **_**Sakura's Evolution.**_

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**Chapter 1: Reality Check**

Haruno Sakura sighed as she continued to walk through the park. It was a gorgeous and wonderful afternoon and normally Sakura would be smiling, but today she didn't feel like much like it. Yesterday had been her twelfth birthday and she had had a wonderful (albeit a bit strained) time with her parents and had woken up to a beautiful Monday. The perfect weather coupled with the still-present thrill of being twelve had given her confidence. She'd gone through the day with a radiant smile and after classes were out, the pinkette had asked, blushing and with a slight stutter, Uchiha Sasuke out to ramen.

To which he promptly scowled in disgust, rejected her inquires harsher than ever before, and walked away- leaving a tearful Sakura behind.

Not wanting to go home, the girl had escaped to the park. Hiding among the trees, she had cried her eyes out before finally calming down. Just to be sure no remnants of fallen tears remained (a pink nose red, puffy eyes), she stayed and listened to the birds as they sang.

Sakura was now heading towards the park exit so she could get home before it got too late. Heaving a sigh, she rounded another corner. . .

. . .and immediately hid behind the nearest tree.

"A-ano, Reitan-kun, I-I w-was wondering if you would like to go out sometime, you know, with…me?" Oh, yes. Sakura's timing must be the worst in the entire world. She had stumbled on a very personal moment between two people. The viridian-eyed pre-teen would have groaned if it wouldn't have given her away.

An aggravated sigh brought her out of her thoughts. "Hikari, when will you get it? I do _not_ want to go out with you! You've asked me that practically every week for I don't know how long! The answer has always been no, and it will _always_ be no."

"B-but, why, Reitan-kun?"

"Because you're just another fangirl." Crunching footsteps let Sakura know this 'Reitan' was leaving.

'_How pathetic.'_Her inself sneered and Outer Sakura couldn't help but agree as she shifted further into the shadows when Hikari- a very pretty civilian about her age with long black hair- raced past her hiding spot with tears streaming down her face. Though her heart went out to the poor girl, she couldn't help but think how dense she must be. Seriously, who asks out a guy every week? If he says no the first time, the girl shouldn't bother him about it again and move on. What's more, what kind of girl is obsessed enough to join a fanclub?

. . .oh.

Mortified, ashamed, and feeling like a total hypocrite, Sakura sank to the ground and leaned back against the tree. She had just overheard a situation practically identical to the one that occurred to herself not much more than an hour ago. It was almost verbatim, for Kami's sake! Groaning rather loudly, Sakura pulled her knees to her chest, wrapped her arms around them, and let her slightly-bigger-than-normal forehead rest against her knees, not giving any notice when her long pink tresses fell in a curtain around her face. Four years. She had pined after Sasuke's love for _four years._ She had been so caught up in, well, him_,_ that most everything she did was about him.

'_No,'_ she thought with growing horror, _'it isn't just __most__of what I do, it's practically everything. Not to mention, almost every time I do something not Sasuke-related, it leads to Sasuke related thoughts.'_This was true. If she was watching a movie, it was: "I hope Sasuke-kun says that to me one day!" Shopping for clothes: "I wonder if Sasuke-kun will think I look good in this." Weapons: " Will Sasuke-kun notice my new weapons?" It seemed the only thing she did that wasn't Sasuke related and didn't turn Sasuke related is when she used the toilet!

Plus, think of all the tears she's cried for him- because of him. All those millions upon millions of water droplets that could have kept her hydrated. All those tears and the gallons of pain that came with them- wasted on a stupid boy!

Finally, there was the time. For four years, she had wasted her time being an idiot rather than training. As she sat there, the pinkette remembered why she chose the shinobi path. At the age of seven, Sakura had had enough of the teasing and bullying and decided to become a ninja so she would be strong enough to do just about anything- including protecting her parents if and when war came their way. Unfortunately, it didn't go over well with them; her dad being the most vocal of the two about his objections. It didn't stop her from signing up for the Ninja Academy a year later though. This resulted in a rather limited relationship with her father and a tense one with her mother. (The strain was still going on- her father only spoke to her so he could put her down and her mother was always talking about it was "a woman's job to take care of the house, not traipsing around playing ninja.)

However, the tense atmosphere at home had no effect on her high spirits when classes started. The wretched thing about classes was that there other kids. Other kids meant more potential bullies to pick on her. And pick on her they did.

Then she and Ino became best friends. This meant her list of reasons to be a kunoichi was expanding. She now also wanted to be able to protect Ino as well as her parents, and she would make them all proud. But naïve little Sakura just hadto go and get a crush on Sasuke, thus making her A) break off her friendship with Ino and B) lose track of her ninja career and dignity.

Well, not anymore. From now on, Sakura was going to live her life the way she had originally intended. She was going to be one of the most feared kunoichis in Konoha, and nothing was going to distract her from that again.

There were six months left before the genin exams. Though Sakura was confident she would pass, she didn't feel as though she had earned. _'That's going to change though,'_the pinkette thought savagely as she stood up, brushing the dirt off her dress and walking towards the park exit. _'I swear I will work hard and deserve the title of genin, and then I'll keep working hard so I can go beyond that._

'_Look out world, Haruno Sakura has re-claimed her life, and she's not about to let it go again.'_

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"K-kura-chan, can we stop for today?"

"That," the pink-haired girl gasped out, "would be the best idea I've heard all year Tenten." Exhaling relieved sighs, both girls simultaneously collapsed onto the slightly dewy grass.

Ever since that day in the park six months ago, Sakura had been working ass off. Every day she got up at five am, took a half an hour to wake up, dress, and eat. Then she would head to the training grounds where she would warm-up for an hour doing laps around Konoha, push-ups, curl-ups, and meditation. After that, she would get down to the real training. Sometimes Tenten (a genin one year older than Sakura herself whom had met Sakura when the Academy student was training) would join her in this part of the training and spar. At seven thirty she grabbed her school things and medic books (Tenten had explained how much first aid could be of use in a team) and would go to school.

At which time the Uchiha Sasuke fangirls would glare and shoot insults about her forehead. To say the least, the fanclub had not appreciated her resignation, and, as such, acted accordingly. However they were unimportant, and were only met with subtle verbal aggression, and beat downs during the practical training portion of the curriculum.

After school, it was back to the training grounds until dinner. Before bed she showered and studied medical ninjustu until eight o'clock. It was a well-kept schedule that was only varied by Tenten, emergencies, library visits, and the increasing number of physical warm-ups.

As the two girls lay panting on the ground, an approaching chakra signature alerted them to another's presence. Sakura groaned at having to open her eyes (the sun, it was too bright!) but did so anyways. A boy with white, freaky eyes and long brown hair stood over them with his arms crossed and looking a bit annoyed. Sakura blinked, surprised. Tenten scurried into a standing position after and, after a moment Sakura slowly copied her actions.

"Neji? What are you doing here?" The bun-haired, brown-eyed girl asked.

"Yes, Hyuuga Neji-_chan , _what are you doing here?" Sakura snickered as she wiped the grass off of the back of the black tank top and matching black bike shorts she usually wore under her red dress. The Hyuuga boy glared at Sakura.

"Tenten," he began, "was supposed to meet me at ten thirty." Here he glared at his teammate before continuing. "And you, Sakura-san, shouldn't you be at the Academy for your genin team assignments?"

Ah, yes, the team assignments. Yesterday had been the genin exams and Sakura had passed with excellence, pride and feeling as if she actually deserved the title. Her nimble hands reached up to adjust the forehead protector that rested on top of her head and held back her hair. _'Today, I am officially a genin!' _She thought, a small smile tugging its way onto her face. The girl blinked and remembered Neji's question.

"Not yet. We don't have to be there until eleven and I've set my watch alarm to go off at 10:15- which it hasn't. So, you're early." _Ha! Take that you Hyuuga she-man!'_Inner Sakura crowed. Neji glared at her as if he could hear her inner as clearly as he could hear Tenten.

"Not according to my watch, which says it is-" the brunette glanced at his wrist-watch "-10:50 am." At his assertion, Sakura scoffed, earning yet another glare from the thirteen-year-old branch member. (In the background, Tenten could be seen sighing and shaking her head. Really, the two were good friends- they just loved annoying each other.)

"Excuse me, Neji-_onee-chan_,-" Sakura grinned at his glower-"but according to _my_ watch it is-" here she made a big show of checking her watch- "10:50 am."

Silence reigned as a breeze blew through the grounds.

And then. . .

"Oh my god, I only have ten minutes to get the academy!" Sakura shrieked before rushing around, grabbing up all of her shuriken and kunai, and stuffing them in their respective places. Picking up her weight belt and buckling it around her waist, the pinkette rushed over to her bag and books, snatched them up, and booked it out of the clearing, ignoring Tenten who called her back.

'_Damn it! The Academy is all the way on the other side of town! I'm not gonna make it in time!'_

'_Urusai, Sakura!'_ Inner Sakura growled. _'We have never been late before and we are not gonna start now! Shannaro!'_

'_You're right! I will not be late! Okay, the shortest way to the Academy it through Market Street. Please, please, please don't let it be-' _the genin girl skidded to a halt right at the start of Market Street and stared, horrified.

'_-packed!'_Gritting her teeth, Sakura turned and continued running straight, not bothering to even try to get through the vendors and consumers. _'I'll have to take the back allies- it may be the longer way, but going through that crowd will take ten minutes in itself.' _Pumping chakra to her legs, the girl quickened her pace. To the few pedestrians she passed, the official genin was just a blur before she literally left them in her dust.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" She growled out through her teeth. More chakra to her feet, and she dared a glance at her watch. _'Kuso! Only three minutes!'_Mercifully, the academy was in sight. Another minute and she burst through the doors. Taking the stairs two at a time, the pre-teen swore under her breath at whoever had the bright idea to put Iruka's room on top floor, on the opposite side of the side stairwell. When she reached the fourth floor, Sakura didn't stop but sent another split-second glance at her watch. _'Forty-nine seconds!'_Rounding three more corners, her sensei's door came into sight with ten seconds left.

_ Nine. . ._

_ Eight. . . _

_ Seven. . ._

_ Six. . ._

_ Five. . ._

. . .she was halfway there. . .

_ Four. . ._

. . .right outside the door. . .

_ Three. . ._

_ Two. . ._

The kunoichi crossed the threshold. Cheering rather vivaciously, Sakura skid to a stop on the wood floor.

Well, she tried to; key word being 'try.' Apparently, someone had decided to wax the classroom floors for the genin team assignments. Having practically no chakra or strength left to stop her speed sprinting, the girl slid across the floor full tilt.

Screaming and pin-wheeling her arms for balance, the pinkette continued careening across the floor straight into the windowed-walls opposite the door. And of course, the window directly in front of her was wide open, so when her legs rammed into the wall, her upper body continued moving forward, causing her topple head-first out the window.

"Sakura!" Iruka started for the window, only to jerk backwards when a kunai flew through the window and embedded itself in the ceiling. Attached to the handle was a taut, near-invisible wire. Rushing towards the window, Iruka leaned out, his eyes searching for pink, and sighed in relief. Sakura was hanging from the other end of the wire, not two feet below the windowsill.

Said Haruno was wrapped in relief, and Inner Sakura had fainted from shock.

'_Safe.'_

"All right now for the team assignments. You will be set in groups of three, and a jounin will be your team leader. Team One. . ."

Sakura sighed. After being pulled back into the classroom and getting her bearings, the first thing she had done was grab her sensei by vest, look him straight in the eye, and demand to know if she was late. After a moment of surprise and another of laughter, Iruka said that no, he supposed she was not. Then it was time for class, and Sakura was forced to sit in the only open seat between Sasuke and Naruto. She had protested, and even asked to switch seats with someone else (to which every Sasuke-fangirl said, "I'll trade seats with her sensei!"), but she was still forced to sit between the two.

Then Naruto had oh-so-innocently mentioned how he liked her new look, which made her realize how she had run across town in just her bike shorts and her black and mesh tank top because she had forgot her friggin' dress at the training grounds. This made her mood go from hero to zero in a split-second flat, and she had to really fight to keep from screaming in frustration. Instead, she opted for an attempt at a polite smile, which actually looked more like a grimace, towards the blonde before plopping down on the seat between him and the wanna-be-my-older-brother, stoic Uchiha. Which, you know, just made her day so much better. _Not._She really hated being anywhere near him now that she was no longer disillusioned by good looks and rivalry. Absently, Sakura wondered if all Uchiha were this emotionally constipated, or if _'dear Sasuke-kun'_had just lucked out with the bad side of the gene pool. Regardless, all she wanted to do was him in that pretty face of his and hope it destroyed some of his ego, Inner Sakura behind her all the way.

As Iruka made his way through the list of teams, Sakura let a long, tortured sigh. Whoever was on her team, she hoped Uchiha was not one of them. If she had to, Sakura could probably tolerate him with the barest amount of civility for all of three hours, tops, before she tried to strangle him. Ino and Naruto put together would be better a choice, Inner Sakura pointed out. Give her anyone besides the Uchiha Sasuke, and they'd get along okay.

"Team Seven: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura…" Squeezing her eyes shut and crossing her fingers, Sakura prayed that she hadn't jinxed herself and gotten Yamanaka on her squad because that would truly suck and only the Uchiha could make it worse-

"…and Uchiha Sasuke."

"God DAMNITT!"

"Uh, Sakura? Do you have a problem with Sasuke being on your team?" That was when Sakura realized that she'd actually said that out loud, and could feel the embarrassed blush creeping up her neck. However, instead of denying it, the pink-haired kunoichi abruptly pulled herself to her feet and slammed her hands on the desk in front of her and glaring her hardest at the chunnin at the front of the room.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do! Why, in the name of all seven hells, do I have to be on his-" insert a jerk of the head towards the stoic genin- "team, of all people? He's a rude, arrogant, stuck-up, jerk who wouldn't know what teamwork, or even civility, was even if it jumped up and bit him in the ass!"

Total silence- for about ten seconds, until all hell broke loose. Fangirls started screaming at her for "telling such obscene lies about dearest Sasuke-kun!" while Naruto started screaming similar sentiments to Sakura's _in her ear_, and, well, let's just say that Iruka was turning an interesting shade of red.

"ENOUGH!" Iruka roared. The room instantly fell silent. "Sakura, I really don't know what's gotten into you, but to answer your question, the teams were divided up like this for a reason. To help the balance and overall equality of the teams, we've taken your rankings in the class and finals and together teams of three, two shinobi and a kunoichi to each, that reflected relative equality when the scores were added together."

"Demo sa, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto interrupted, standing up and waving his arms in an attempt to express his exaggeration, "Sakura-chan graduated second in class on the exams! She doesn't need to be on Teme's team! And I'm way better than him too, so neither should I!"

"Yes, Naruto, you're so much better than him that you came in dead-last while Sasuke graduated as the top rookie. The reason we have the two top graduates on one team is to both counter-act each other and your stupidity, so pipe-down and accept your fate!" Pouting, the blonde sat down in his seat while the rest of the class broke out into laughter at his misfortune, and Sakura slowly did the same, taking deep breaths to reign in Inner Sakura.

As Iruka continued naming off squads, Sakura grudgingly acquiesced to herself that it was logical putting her and Sasuke on the same squad with Naruto. The blonde genin had somehow managed to pass the final exams, but only just barely scraping by, putting him on at the bottom of the ranking level and automatically guaranteeing him a spot on a team with the class' top rookie, Uchiha Sasuke. As for her, instead of putting someone in the exact middle of the class ranking (i.e., a completely average shinobi) on the squad to keep it balanced, they chose her for more singular matters. The only thing Naruto and Sasuke were both statistically similar in was the teamwork category.

Naruto and Sasuke had both averaged the lowest teamwork scores, one being too stubborn and the other too arrogant to work in teams. Sakura, on the other hand, excelled in that area, garnering her a spot in the top three of that category alone. There was also the fact of their individual jutsu types. Naruto was a taijutsu type, always running in without thinking, dukes raised. Sasuke was more ninjutsu, but he also relied on tai- a lot and ran into fights head first. Truth be told, the boy seemed to put only a margine more thought into his battles than his blonde counterpart did. Sakura was the complete opposite. Genjutsu type by nature, she put more thought into her fights, and her offense and defense always had some kind of plan. Despite this, her stamina and taijutsu were her worst aspects, and she didn't have a way to learn any ninjutsu that wasn't taught by the academy.

Team 7 was a perfect balance, statistically speaking. In all actuality, this team of new genin was either complete recipe for disaster or success. Sneaking a glance at the boys on her left and right, the pinkette knew this team was destined for the former unless one of them buckled down and played mediator. Scowling, Sakura knew if they had any chance of actually being a team, she'd have to do it. Both of those idiots were far to stubborn to even consider working together, so it was up to her.

Which meant being decent to Uchiha. _'Fan-fucking-tastic!'_Inner Sakura snarled. Taking a deep breath, the new member of Team 7 pushed everything out of her mind and payed attention to Iruka who was finishing the teams. She'd just have to suck it up and play nice, she told herself, and with that, tuned out her Inner.

"Well class," Iruka sighed, "that's it. Your jounin leaders lill come pick you up here, after lunch. Before I dismiss you, I just want to say it has been a pleasure teaching all of you." Smiling at them, the chuunin placed the list of teams he'd been holding on the desk. "Good luck all of you, and remembered what you've learned. Dismissed!" Students began to gather with their newly assigned teams, making plans to eat lunch together and talk. Sakura sighed and followed Naruto and Sasuke out into the rapidly emptying hallway. The three of them stood there in awkward silence before the female sighed and locked her hands together behind her back. Both boys looked at her. _'Here goes nothing!'_

"Sasuke-san, I'm sorry." They were gaping at her now, and she jumped at the chance to explain without interruption. "I shouldn't have said those things in class. To be honest," here she grimaced at what she was going to say, "I haven't given you any reason to be civil. Treating you like a piece of meat instead of a person was wrong. I'm sorry. But you should also know that I'm not a fangirl anymore. I don't have a crush on you, and I haven't for six months; you're just a fellow classmate, and now, a teammate to me. So, how about we forget the past, and just try to be friends. Truce?" She stuck out her hand.

There was a long moment of silence as both boys got their bearings. Glancing from her hand to her face, Sasuke nodded and grasped the appendage with his own. "Truce." Letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding, Sakura gave him a shy smile, and turned to Naruto, who was looking at the scene with caution. "Naruto, I'm also sorry for all the times I've made fun of you and stuff. I know you have a crush on me, but I didn't treat you any better than Sasuke-san did me, and I shouldn't have. However!" She cut the blonde off at the hopeful gleam in his eye and blush on his face. "-I don't think of you that way. Let's just be friends, okay?" His countenance, was slightly less peppy, but he nodded and shook her outstretched hand as well.

Now, thrilled at the prospect of a fresh start with these two, she smiled her biggest and brightest, and clapped her hands together. "Great! Well, are either of you doing anything for lunch?" When both shook their heads no, her beam grew wider if possible. "Well, then I guess we're eating out together." Grabbing her teammates by the wrist, she began to pull them down the hallway. "Any preferences?"

"Oooh! Ooooh! Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, pulling the trio to a stop as he whilred in front of the pinkette to look her in the face. "Can we go to Ichiraku Ramen? They're the best!" Sakura blinked.

"Well," she began, "I don't mind. What about you Sasuke-san?" Looking at the stoic male, she caught his eye just as he finished rolling them. "Hn. I don't care. And stop calling me –san; it makes me twitch." With that, he turned his head to glare at the wall. Chuckling, Sakura turned to face the eager blonde. "I guess ramen it is."

"YES! ICHIRAKU RAMEN, HERE I COME!" Gripping her wrist tightly, the Naruto began running full tilt out of the Academy, dragging Sakura behind him. Yelping, Sakura tightened her hold on Sasuke in return, the two were raced to keep up with the hyperactive pre-teen.

"Na- Na- Naruto! _SLOW DOWN!"_ "DOPE!"

"WOOOHOOO!"

'_Just what,' _Sakura groaned, _'have I gotten myself into _this_ time?'_

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** Well, I hope you like it. Reviews would be very much appreciated, but I might not update for at least a month as I am leaving soon on a month long trip to stay with my grandmother. Constructive criticism is welcome.-**

**I.C.**


	2. Only In the Beginning

**Well, here it is: the second installment of **_**Sakura's Evolution.**_** I'm sorry it took so long, but as I said, I was visiting family.**

**This chapter is dedicated to the following:**

_nodirection_

_Lucky Star Okami_

_Athyra()_

_LadyCalus_

_Phelin_

_Lnewolf_

**And**_ EAnIL_

**Thank you all for reviewing the first chapter and/or adding me to your favorites/story alert lists.**

_Inner Sakura_

_Sakura's thoughts_

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or its characters.**

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**Chapter 2: Only In the Beginning**

"Heh-heh, that was great! Ramen is the best, 'ttebayo!"

Biting her lip to keep in a dry chuckle at how loud her blonde teammate was, Sakura snuck a quick glance at the other boy on her new genin team; just in time to catch the disgusted grimace disappear into his apathetic façade. He slid his own glance at her, and, catching her amused expression, swiftly turned his head to the side, mumbling a "hn" under his breath. This time, the pre-teen girl had to laugh as one of her teammates went on a monologue about the finer points of ramen to her and their other teammate, who was currently trying to pretend he did not know the aforementioned.

Remembering the lunch Team 7 had just come from, Sakura grimaced and tried not to think of how their clashing personalities would affect their teamwork and missions.

At the ramen shack, Sasuke and Sakura had watched as Naruto _inhaled_- there really was no other way to describe it- five consecutive bowls of ramen, _while_ continuing a one-sided conversation. As Sakura herself was still in disgusted shock, Sasuke took the time to, in predictable Uchiha Sasuke fashion, chide Naruto on his lack of manners. Taking offense to being called an "unsophisticated slob" and "the biggest idiot of all the shinobi villages combined," Naruto called Sasuke a "stuck-up emo-prince with a twenty foot kunai wedged up his ass!" It escalated from there into a huge (and incredibly loud) argument, despite Sakura's pacifist attempts to dissolve it. In the end, when both boys stood up and grabbed each other's shirtfronts, ready to turn the fight physical, Sakura's temper finally snapped and Inner Sakura momentarily took over and ended the fight then there.

This meant, of course, grabbing a fistful of their hair and slamming their foreheads onto the counter while telling them to "shut the hell up and finish their ramen!" and then calmly sitting back down to eat her own.

Now, on their way back to the academy, Sakura sighed as she watched her fellow teammates bicker back and forth, albeit a lot quieter than at Ichiraku's. Maybe if she could somehow get them to work together on somethi-

"Saku-raaaa! Hey Kura!" Ripped out of her reverie, said girl stopped and turned to see who had called her name, absently noting out of her peripheral that Sasuke and Naruto stopped as well. There, running towards her, was Tenten, waving her arm in greeting. Grinning, Sakura waved back before turning to face the two pre-teen boys behind her.

"Naruto, Sasuke, you guys can go head back to the academy and I'll just meet you two there, okay?" Sasuke eyed her for a moment, nodded, and then turned around to continue on his way. Naruto jogged after him, sending a wave and "See you there, Sakura-chan!" over his shoulder.

Smiling, she turned around to wait patiently for her brunette friend to catch up to her. When she did, the girl laughed and lightly hit the pinkette on the shoulder.

"Man, Kura-chan, you are one hard girl to track down. I've been looking for you everywhere!" At this, Sakura blinked.

"You have? Why?"

"To give this back, of course! You left it at the grounds this morning." With that, Tenten began shrugging out of the unzipped red dress Sakura had not noticed the bun-haired girl was wearing. Gasping in delight, Sakura could not believe how relieved she felt. Sooner than Tenten could blink, her fellow kunoichi had already put on and zipped up her dress, murmuring something similar to "Oh modesty, how I've missed you!" under her breathe.

Sighing happily, Sakura looked up to see her best friend silently laughing at her. The younger girl scowled at Tenten, her cheeks dusting light pink in embarrassment. "It's not funny, Tenten! You have no idea how embarrassing it is to walk around dressed like that; I felt like I was supposed to be standing at a street corner." The pinkette sighed and shook her head. "But anyways Ten, thanks for bringing me this."

This time the brown-haired ninja laughed loudly as the two started walking towards the academy. Market Street was packed, so as the two friends maneuvered through the crowd, Tenten had to shout to be heard. "You're welcome, but I don't get why it's so uncomfortable for you; you always take it off during training anyways."

"Well," Sakura yelled, "it's different around one or two people I'm friends with, but when there are people around I'm not friends with or just a big crowd. . . you know how self-conscious I am." Grimacing, the viridian-eyed kunoichi recalled several occasions when bullies would remind her of her ugly features, both from when she was a little girl to the present day.

"The reason for your self-consciousness being completely unfounded as you are a very pretty girl," Tenten scoffed. Seeing her friend open her mouth to object, the seasoned genin grinned, grabbed the pinkette's wrist and ran, pulling them out of the throng of people, not even bothering to fully absorb the indignant shouts of the shoppers. When the two girls finally turned off Market Street, they took one look at each other's flushed and frazzled appearances and burst into giggles. Looping her arm through Sakura's, Tenten started them off again. "Enough of that, though. Tell me about your teammates, Kura-chan." The ensuing groan of despair made the brunette's grin grow twice as large.

"It's horrible, Tenten! I'm stuck with the two biggest rivals of our year, excluding Yamanaka and myself, and they're complete polar opposites that can't even stand in the same room without arguing with or glaring at each other."

"_Sucks_, Kura. Who are they?"

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke."

"The eccentric and obnoxious nobody and the uptight, brooding clan member?" After a moment of silence, Tenten started cackling maniacally. "Oh my god, Sakura! Your team is _exactly like mine!_" This time when Tenten laughed, Sakura groaned again and covered her eyes with free hand. A second later her head shot up, a look of horror on her face.

"That means I have a Neji on my team!"

"You better hope to Kami you don't get weird sensei like mine, Sakura."

"Don't jinx me Tenten!"

Her only response was laughter.

"Well," Tenten began when they came to a stop at an intersection, "this is where I take my leave; Gai-sensei will give me laps if I'm late to training."

"Alright," Sakura laughed, "I'll talk to you later then."

"Mm'kay. See you later, Kura-chan."

"See you."

As Tenten took her leave via the rooftops, Sakura turned and headed towards the park entrance. A path there that led to the academy, and since she had plenty of time left, the rookie kunoichi wanted to take the scenic route.

Absent-mindedly eyeing the autumn colored leaves, Sakura thought seriously about her new team, attempting to find some way they could all resolve their personality conflicts. It was not until she was nearing the academy that the pinkette gave up, with no idea how to proceed.

'_This would be so much easier,'_ Sakura thought as she leaned against a tree, completely exasperated, _'if I actually knew why the two were rivals.'_

'_Or if you knew them at all,'_ Inner Sakura pointed out. _'I mean, this could just be a phase.'_

Silently, Sakura reviewed every memory she had of the two. It was a long list spanning over a period of four years, but almost every single one of them was of the two boys fighting. In fact, the very first day of the academy, Naruto introduced himself as the future Hokage and Sasuke called him an idiot for think a dead last could be Hokage. Of course Naruto retaliated by tackling Sasuke and stuffing a hand full of grass in his mouth. That quickly turned into a brawl that did not seem to end, even after Iruka-sensei broke them up.

'_. . . or maybe they will keep arguing for the rest of your life and drive you into early grey-headedness.'_

Groaning loudly, Sakura pushed away from the tree and grasped her head in frustration. Letting go, she looked up and glared at the sky, _knowing_ someone up there was laughing at her misfortune.

"Are all boys so arrogant and stubborn, or did I just get stuck with the lucky two?" she sarcastically asked the sky, not expecting any form of an answer.

"The latter choice, most likely."

Shrieking in surprise, Sakura instinctively grabbed a kunai from her pouch, whirled around, and threw it at where The Voice had come from. Immediately she jumped back to put some distance between her and her opponent, stooping her posture in a defensive position, one hand reaching for her next weapon while the other helped her keep her balance. Her eyes narrowed in contemplation as they focused in on her attacker-

-and instantaneously widened in horror as her entire body froze at the figure standing in front of her.

He was tall, dressed in the full Anbu regalia, his mask resting on the side of his head. Standing there, calmly twirling the kunai she had thrown, he could not have been older than eighteen. Long black hair pulled back in a low ponytail fell over his shoulder while his bangs framed an almost inhumanly handsome face. Ebony eyes devoid of any emotion surrounded by luscious lashes and aristocratic features portrayed a blank expression, though despite this, Sakura got the distinct feeling he was rather amused.

All this was taken in in a short second, and in the next moment the twelve-year-old felt her face start to heat up as the full reality of what she had just done hit her.

'_Oh my- yum! He's freaking delicious!'_

'_Are you serious? We just threw a kunai at an Anbu member! We're going to die!'_

'_If he's the Grim Reaper, I'd be happy to die every day for the rest of my life.'_

"For a genin," he said, snapping her to attention, "you have pretty good reflexes." By now, Sakura's face was redder than it had ever been before, and his completely apathetic voice simply made it worse.

"I'm so sorry!" She squeaked, bringing her hands up to clasp up over her chest, as she did when she was anxious, and standing up straighter. "I so didn't mean to do that! Well, I mean, I did, because you scared me, but if I'd known it was you, I wouldn't have thrown it. Not you, as in you, specifically; I meant you, as in a random Konoha shinobi. Not that it would have made a difference! I still wouldn't have-"

His chuckle cut her off and Sakura's normally pale feature turned even redder, if possible, as she realized that _god damnitt, she was rambling again!_ Unable to look the man- boy? teenager?- in the eye anymore, Sakura bowed her head in embarrassment, muttering one final apology for good measure.

"It is fine." His voice was as smooth as rich velvet, but Sakura was startled (again) at how close it sounded. Lifting her head, the viridian-eyed girl was surprised to see he was only a few feet away. "I should be the one to apologize," he continued. "It was not my intention to scare you." He offered her back her kunai.

"A-ah! N-no, it's f-fine." Mentally cringing at how utterly lame she sounded, Sakura tucked the kunai back into its place. _'Girl,'_ Inner Sakura growled, _'if you don't stop stuttering like an idiot, I'm going to take over.'_

Sighing and relaxing herself marginally, the pinkette looked up at the Anbu member and offered him a shy smile and her hand. "I'm Haruno Sakura." She said. "It's nice to meet you. . .?"

"Uchiha Itachi." The male, Itachi, replied, shaking her hand briefly. Sakura blinked and tilted her head to the side curiously.

"Sasuke's older brother?"

The Uchiha before her smirked. "I take it you know my otouto then?"

Honestly, she tried (and failed) to hid her grimace. "Um, yeah. We've actually been put onto the same genin team with Uzumaki Naruto." As soon as she said that, the petite female could have sworn his smirk became more pronounced even though nothing actually changed about his expression. Sakura shifted nervously.

"May I conclude then," he began, "that the two you were. . . speaking of earlier were Uzumaki-san and my otouto?"

Immediately, Sakura's face flushed again. Sheepishly, she nodded. "The three of us seem to have conflicting personalities, and I'm a little worried how it will affect our teamwork." She frowned, reminded once more of her original problem.

"Haruno-san," Itachi called before she could drift into thought, "while I'm impressed you are thinking so far ahead-" insert another blush on Sakura's behalf- "it's not necessary for you to worry. All teams have their conflicts at first, and they are all resolved with time. After all, it is only the beginning of your time with Uzumaki-san and Sasuke."

Sakura blinked. The man was completely right of course, and Sakura felt more than a little silly for making a mountain out of a molehill. "You're right, Uchiha-san," she chuckled, smiling. "I always did tend to over analyze. And, call me Sakura; Haruno-san is how everyone addresses my father."

The Uchiha heir smirked again. "Itachi, likewise then. Also, I was wondering if you would know where my foolish otouto went off to. I have a message to give him from our Kaa-san, but I cannot find him at the academy or at any restraints."

Sakura frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I know he went back to the academy when we split up after lunch, and he was probably attacked by his fangirls on sight. So, he's most likely hiding somewhere in the building, but I couldn't tell you where, and he definitely won't show up until two or three minutes until we need to be back." At the mention of time, Sakura checked her watch; she so did not want a repeat of this morning.

This time, it was Itachi who frowned. "Perhaps then, Sakura-san, I might request a favor of you."

For what felt like the fifth time that day, Sakura was surprised. "Of course! What do you need Itachi-san?"

"Our Kaa-san wants Sasuke to pick up these items from the market on his way home," here he handed her a list he'd fished from his kunai pouch, "and asked me to tell him so. However, I cannot waste anymore time looking for him as Hokage-sama is expecting me. Would you mind relaying the message on my behalf when you see him?"

"Not at all, Itachi-san." Sakura smiled at him and tucked the list securely into her own pouch. Itachi nodded at her and stepped back.

"Thank you. I'm afraid I must leave now, but it was nice meeting you Sakura-san, and I hope to see you again."

"It was nice meeting you too Itachi-san, and I hope the same." The elder boy half-smirked, half-smiled at her, and then he was gone. Sakura remained a moment longer, before turning around and continuing on her way.

'_Well, that was. . .weird.'_

'_Tell me about it. Now hurry up or we'll be late.'_

Sakura rolled her eyes at her inner self, but increased her pace just the same. When she got back to the classroom, it was already half full of genin, including both of her own teammates. Taking her place between the two, she faced the younger heir.

"Hey Sasuke, your brother was looking for you earlier." She said. The brooding boy stiffened and looked at her.

"He asked me to tell you your Kaa-sama wants you to pick some things up from the market." She handed him the slip of paper Itachi gave her. She distinctly heard the boy sigh as he looked over the list, and swore that his cheeks were a little more flushed than normal. _'I guess even Uchiha Sasuke has to get groceries for his mom once in a while.'_

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment, Iruka-sensei walked in, followed by several adults. The room of excited genins immediately quieted in awe; none of them, except Sasuke, had ever seen more than one or two jounin at the same time, and now five were waiting to collect their teams. Sakura watched with silent excitement at the jounin, wondering if one of them was hers. It turned out they weren't, and she sighed a little in envy as Hyuuga Hinata's team walked up to the only female jounin there.

As the jounin and their new genin left, the kids began talking again. Time started to pass, and as more jounin came to claim their team, the room steadily became emptier. When more than half the class had left, Naruto began to fidget. Four jounins later, Sakura's hands hurt from how tightly she had been squeezing them into fists in her lap. So she stretched them out and then curled them again. Finally, when the very last team besides theirs left, a deep brooding aura settled over Sasuke. More time went by, and eventually Iruka bid them farewell, much to the ire of Team 7.

By now, almost two and a half hours had gone by since they all came back from lunch, and all three of them had moved to the front of the room. Sasuke was sitting in the first row of seats closest to the door while Sakura was lying down on top of the desks furthest from the door. Naruto paced across the front of the classroom, growing more and more agitated as the seconds passed. Sakura sighed and scowled at the ceiling; she _hated_ it when people were late and being late herself. Waiting sucked.

"Gyahh! I can't take this!" Two pairs of eyes snapped over to the orange-clad boy and watched silently as he grabbed a dirty eraser and a stool and marched over to the door. When he stood on the stool to reach the top of the door, obsidian eyes narrowed in understanding while the emerald pair widened in shock.

"Hn. Do you really think a jounin is going to fall for that? Tch, Dope." Sasuke said after Naruto finished.

"Shut up Teme! I don't care; he deserves it! I mean, even Iruka-sensei has already gone home for the night! What do you think Sakura-chan?"

Said girl stiffened as both boys looked at her. "Well," she began, sitting up and getting off the desk only to lean against it, "he may be a rude jerk for having us wait on our first meeting, but he's still our superior and deserves at least some respect." She shrugged carelessly, tugged once at her unzipped red dress, and folded her arms. _'Screw that! Vengeance will be mine, bitches! I hate waiting!'_

Right at that moment, a set of footprints approached the door. The three of them waited with bated breath as the _tap, tap, tapping_ stopped outside the door. Slowly, the shoji door slid open. . .

. . . and the eraser fell on the head of a silver-haired man reading an orange book.

"Ahahaha! I can't believe you fell for it, dattebayo!" Naruto was almost doubled over with laughter, and Sakura herself had covered her mouth to hide her smile. That did nothing though for her shoulders which were shaking with concealed laughter. Sasuke was the only one of the three mildly composed, and he was scowling at their so-called 'sensei,' a look of _"are you kidding me?" _adorning his features. It was only when Naruto's laughing died down the man looked up from his examination of the eraser.

"My first impression of you three," he drawled, one lone eye studying each of them in turn, "is that you're all idiots." And then he smiled beneath his mask.

_Thus, Team 7 met its sensei._

* * *

**Well, here it is: Chapter 2, complete. I had originally intended for it to include the introductions, but it felt like I was dragging it out too much. **

**Thanks for all of your support; the reviews are very much appreciated, as are any questions, comments, or concerns and insults will be… taken care of. ^_^ **

**-I.C.**


	3. The Bell Test

**Awwww! I had no idea so many of you like my story! I really appreciate the feedback you guys gave me, so much so, that I'm updating waaaayy earlier than usual.**

**THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO ALL THOSE WHO REVIWED OR ADDED MY STORY TO THEIR STORY ALERT/FAVORITES LIST!**

**Thanks so much for your support!-**

**I.C.**

* * *

**Chapter Three: The Bell Test**

After their rather strange first meeting, the masked man told the three genin to meet him on the roof, without bothering to introduce himself. Feeling pretty embarrassed for themselves, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto didn't question him and rushed to the rooftop. There they found him giggling to his orange book, and, suddenly wary of the strange jounin, Team 7 sat on the steps of the roof's raised garden, directly in front of their sensei; where the four had been sitting, in awkward silence for a couple of minutes now, simply staring at each other.

Sakura sighed to herself quietly, trying to dissolve her innate urge to babble in tense situations. Really though, if the man didn't say something soon, just fidgeting with her dress wasn't going to keep her quiet for much longer. _'Damnitt,'_ she growled to herself, _'the way things are going, he's gonna be as weird as Tenten says her sensei is!'_

"Well," the man drawled suddenly, snapping Sakura out of her thoughts, "I suppose we'd better get on with the introductions. So, why don't you all tell me your names, likes, dislike, hobbies, and dream for the future."

"Ne, ne, sensei!" Naruto interrupted. "Why don't you go first? That way we know how it goes!"

"Alright," he said, closing and putting away his book. "My name is Hatake Kakashi; you may call me Kakashi-sensei. I don't have any desire to tell you my likes or dislikes. I have a lot of hobbies. . . As for my dreams for the future, I haven't really thought about it." No one made a sound when he finished.

'_All we really learned. . .'_ Sakura thought, _'was his name!'_ Judging by the looks on their faces both pre-teen boys felt the same.

"Okay blondie, how about you go first." Kakashi pointed at Naruto as he spoke.

"Right! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I love all different kinds of ramen, especially the kind at Ichiraku Ramen that Iruka-sensei bought me! I hate three minutes you have to wait for the ramen to be done, and my hobbies are training and comparing ramen! My dream is to become the greatest Hokage! That way everyone will have to recognize and respect me, dattebayo!"

'_He still wants to be Hokage, huh? That's a tall order for someone like him.'_ While the pinkette mused to herself, Kakashi told Sasuke to go next.

"Hn. My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't particularly like anything, and I dislike a lot of things. My hobby is training. My dreams are more like goals; there is a certain someone I wish to surpass, and someone else I want the recognition of."

Again, quiet reigned once the speaker had finished, and the single female present didn't know what to think of all that. Their sensei, however, seemed unsurprised as he was nodding and then speaking the next moment.

"Alright pinky, it's your turn." Three sets of eyes fell on her, but "pinky" was too absorbed with glaring at Kakashi to care.

"My name," she bit out, "is Haruno Sakura. I like to learn, train, and challenge myself. I hate bullies, being told I'm not capable of something, and being picked on because of my looks. My hobbies include reading, studying, training, and spending time with Tenten and Hiroki." Sakura paused for a moment as she remembered Tenten's reaction to meeting the one living relative Sakura loved to spend time with: her little brother. "My dreams are to become one of the strongest kunoichi in Konoha and I also aim to earn the recognition of two certain people."

Those two would be her parents, but Sakura didn't think it was necessary for the other three to know that.

"Well, it's good that you're each unique and have ambitions for yourselves." Kakashi stood up and leaned against the roof's railing, arms crossed. "We'll have our first mission tomorrow."

Instantly, all three genin perked up. "Oh, oh sensei! What kind of mission are we doing?" Naruto shouted, waving his arm around to express his excitement.

"It's a task that the four of us will do together." Personally, Sakura was getting really irritated with their silver-haired sensei's vague and dispassionate attitude.

"What is it, what is it?"

"Yeah sensei," Sakura chimed in, wanting to know too, "what's the task?"

There was a moment of silence before Kakashi answered them. "A survival exercise."

"Huh? A survival exercise?" Naruto muttered in confusion.

"I thought you said," Sasuke growled, "that we were going to do a mission." It seemed that even the normally indifferent and aloof Uchiha was irritated at these turn of events. Nor was he the only one.

"Sensei," Sakura put forth, "Survival exercises are practice for missions, and we've done plenty of those in the academy. That's how we got here in the first place."

"This will not be like you previous training." Kakashi hummed.

By now all three pre-teens were getting frustrated with their jounin sensei. "So what kind of training is it then?" Naruto exclaimed, exasperated; Kakashi's response was to start laughing.

'_Grrr, just what the hell is so funny old man?'_ Inner Sakura screeched. Whilst her inner-self was yelling profanities at sensei, Sakura couldn't help but notice the irony. They finally got him to show some emotion other than indifference, and he's mocking them.

The pinkette scowled. "Hey, that was a fair question; what's so funny?"

He chuckled a little more. "it's just that, when I tell you the answer, you're not going to like it," he practically sang at them. None of the three genin said anything, to confused and anxious to speak. When Kakashi started speaking, again his voice was completely serious.

"Of the twenty-seven graduates who came here today only nine will actually become genin. The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. In other words, this is a make-it-or-break-it, pass-fail test and the chance that you'll fail is at least 66%."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were shocked speechless. The fact that they had come this far only to more than likely be sent three spaces back shook them to their very core.

Suddenly, it seemed like Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. See; I told you you weren't going to like it."

"That's crazy!" Naruto shouted. "We worked hard to get here, believe it! What was that graduation test for anyways?"

"Oh, that? That was just to see who might become genin. . . or not."

"What?" The blonde screamed; if Sakura weren't so stunned, she'd be screaming too.

"That's how it is. Like it or not, I decide if you guys pass or fail. Be at the designated training ground at five a.m., and bring your ninja gear.

Sakura clenched her fist. _'A 66% chance of failing- the odds are against me on this.'_ She couldn't stand this; all that hard work she'd done wouldn't be worth anything if she didn't pass this next test. Glancing at the boys, she knew they wouldn't be giving up anytime soon. _'Well neither am I! After all, as a civilian kunoichi whose parents hate her career, the odds have been against me from the start. I can handle anything Kakashi-sensei throws at me! I'm not going to lose!' __'Bring it on, shannaro!'_

"That's all; you're dismissed." Kakashi got up and turned around, making to leave, only to pause with one foot on the railing. "Oh, one more thing." He half turned to face them. "You might want to skip breakfast tomorrow. . .

". . .or you'll puke." With that, their jounin sensei disappeared.

For a moment, the three of them sat in silence, contemplating tomorrow. Sakura glanced at her watch. It was almost four o' clock, meaning she had a little over thirteen hours until she had to be at the training ground tomorrow morning, and the kunoichi needed to take care of several things before bed tonight. She sighed and stood up.

Turning to the boys, Sakura smiled and moved towards the exit. "I'm going to go. We'll need to eat a big dinner and get a lot of sleep, and it's already getting late. I'll see you guys tomorrow, okay?" The boys said their goodnights and Sakura left the building.

It took about ten minutes to get home from the academy, and when she finally stepped through her front door, she winced at the three pairs of shoes by the door. _'Looks like otou-sama is home early from work today. Do you think he's in a good mood?'_

'_Only one way to find out.'_ Sakura exhaled deeply and slowly walked to the kitchen.

"Tadaima!" The sound of little feet running on hard wood floors headed towards her, and soon a black-haired little boy threw himself in her arms.

"Okaeri-nasai, onee-chan!" Instantly, Sakura felt all the tension leave her and she wrapped her arms around the little child's tiny frame as a smile wormed onto her face.

"Arigato, Hiroki-chan." Hiroki leaned back from his surprise hug and bright green eyes exactly like her own smiled at her.

"Nee-chan, you'll never guess what I learned at school today!" Putting the seven-year-old down, the older Haruno sibling held his hand and allowed him to pull her towards the kitchen while he told her about his day. When they stepped into the dining room though, she stopped walking and pulled her hand from Hiroki's smaller one. Bending at the waist into a perfect ninety degree bow, Sakura addressed the man hidden behind today's newspaper at the table's head and the woman setting the mahogany furniture for dinner.

"Konbanwa otou-sama, okaa-sama." She spoke quietly with absolute submissive formality; her back and shoulders tensed again at the rustle of paper. Rising, the family's only pinkette saw her black-haired father and platinum blonde mother staring at her with their usual disapproval.

Haruno Roku's hard, dark green eyes narrowed. "You're late." Sakura's own irises glued themselves to the floor in an attempt to keep her temper in check.

"I apologize, otou-sama. I-"

"A proper young lady," Haruno Amaya interrupted, "would know that there is no excuse for letting down her parents." They weren't just talking about being on time anymore. The tension in the room doubled and Sakura fought to keep her posture neutral. Little Hiroki was shifting nervously from foot to foot, his hands anxiously fidgeting with his shirt in a nervous habit he'd gotten from his older sister.

". . .Yes, okaa-sama." _'I'm not making excuses for my career!'_

"Well?" Briefly, the pre-teen made eye contact with her father who was staring at her over steepled hands. They were expecting her to apologize for both of her "disappointments," but. . .

"I apologize for being late okaa-sama, otou-sama." This time, though still quiet, her voice had an underlining of steel as she made another, much shallower, bow. The air was silent with the tension.

"Go upstairs and get changed for dinner." Her mother ordered.

"Hai."

"But nee-chan! I haven't finished telling you about my day yet!" Hiroki grabbed her hand again and tugged on it as if to emphasize his point. Sakura smiled down at the little boy and ruffled his hair. Her smile widened to a grin when he squawked in indignation and tried to duck away. He really was her sedative in this hell house.

"Why don't you finish your story over dinner? That way okaa-sama and otou-sama can hear it too, okay?" He pouted but nodded anyways. Ruffling his hair again just to mess with him, Sakura turned to the stairs to change.

Dinner was tense, as per usual, but Hiroki's chatter was more than enough to get Sakura to talk and their mother to make only minimal comments on a "proper young lady's" behavior. Eventually though, Hiroki's story ended and Amaya asked her husband about his day.

While Roku talked about the construction company he owned, his daughter kept her eyes trained on her plate and her mouth shut. He finished speaking, and Amaya started chattering about Konoha's latest gossip. When she ran out of things to say, the table went quiet. It was an unspoken rule not to speak about Sakura's day at the table as last time a huge argument had ensued.

Exhaling silently, the Haruno heiress set down her chopsticks and looked at her mother, a peacemaker's smile glued to her face. "Thank you for dinner okaa-sama; it was delicious. What spices did you use in the sauce?"

Amaya didn't even bother to lift her amber eyes from her plate. "I would teach you," she began serenely, "if you were not traipsing about playing ninja all day like a common street urchin." Sakura had to bite down hard on her tongue to keep her appearance of aloofness. It was hard considering Inner Sakura's rampage going on in her head. She reached for her glass of water.

"Ano, okaa-sama, otou-sama," Hiroki piped up, "I'm finished eating, may I go to my room?"

The Haruno head nodded. "Go study for your classes tomorrow and be sure to check over your homework," he said. "Be in bed by seven thirty."

"Hai, otou-sama."

"Kiss your mother and father goodnight dear." Amaya intoned sweetly to her youngest child. He did, and then left for bed.

Sakura stood herself after Hiroki had gone. "If I may, otou-sama, okaa-sama, I'd like to excuse myself now as well."

"Sit down Sakura. Your mother and I have something to discuss with you." This was the first time her father had spoken to her during dinner, and though his voice was just as guarded as earlier, there was a hint of smugness in it. Almost as if he were gloating over a battle won. The viridian-eyed female slowly sat back down.

Her mother was the first to speak. "We'll cut right to the chase Sakura," she said. "Yesterday you graduated from the academy, correct?" Sakura frowned and narrowed her eyes.

"Yes. . ." she answered, wariness radiating from every letter.

"And what," Amaya continued, "was your purpose in attending the academy?"

". . .to become a kunoichi of Konoha."

This time, her father was the one to speak. "Then you have no further reason to stay a ninja." Sakura blinked owlishly at her father, completely thrown for a curve ball.

"Excuse me?"

"You headband," he smirked, nodding at her hitae-ate resting atop her head, "is a symbol that you are a kunoichi. You got the title you wanted and thus have no further reason to continue this. . . ninja phase." Both her parents stared at her, completely confident that they had hit the nail on the head.

It was a long moment before the young girl could find the strength to reply. "You two think," she monotoned quietly, "that I only cared about the title?" Her fists clenched in her lap.

"Of course!" Her mother exclaimed as if it were the most obvious thing in world. "What other reason could any decent girl have for taking on such a career?"

"How about protecting her home?" Sakura shouted, standing up from her seat and slamming her palms on the table. Her father scowled and mimicked her action.

"That sort of thing is for people of shinobi clans. Now, tomorrow I want you to go to the Hokage's office and resign." His words were diamond hard and uncompromising, and she knew he expected her to do as he told her.

'_Like hell I will!'_

"I can't just resign! We were put into genin teams today and my teammates are counting on me to be there!" _'Never mind that we may wind up back at the academy tomorrow._'

'_We are not going to be sent back, shannaro!'_

"I don't care! I am your father and you will do as I say!" Emerald clashed with emerald in a vicious glaring contest. After almost a full minute of this, Sakura pulled herself to her full height and set her jaw, her eyes never wavering from her father's.

"No," she said calmly. "I'm sorry otou-sama, but this is the one thing you ask of me that I cannot do." A muscle ticked in Roku's jaw, he opened his mouth-

-and the phone rang. As Amaya left to answer it, father and daughter stood in complete silence. The matriarch came back saying the call was for Roku, but the man didn't take the device right away.

"This discussion," he growled lowly so as not to let the caller hear, "is not over, Haruno Sakura. For now, go to your room, and stay there for the rest of the night." The pinkette gritted her teeth, but nodded and soon after vanished up the stairs.

Opening the door to her room, Sakura was careful not to slam the door behind her- she was not some toddler throwing a tantrum. Still. . . _'How can they think I'm so shallow?'_

'_I hate to say, but your attitude prior to six months ago was shallow to the extreme.'_

'_Well, I'm not like that anymore,'_ Sakura scowled. _'And if they really think I am, then they don't know anything about me.'_ With a sigh and a groan, she flopped on her bed, her eyes closed.

Her door creaked open. "Onee-chan?" Sakura opened her eyes, sat up, and smiled tiredly at her little brother standing in her doorway. Taking the silent invitation, Hiroki grinned and crawled up next to her on the bed, his arms full with a thick notebook.

"Nee-chan," he said after he was comfortable. "I was wondering if you could help me with my homework and tell me about your day at the academy; I wanna know about your teammates."

As he was talking, Hiroki opened his notebook and showed her the long division and three-digit multiplication problems assigned to him in math. They were a little advanced for a seven-year-old, public school attendee, but Hiroki shared more with Sakura than green eyes; both of them were extremely intelligent for their ages. Hiroki's high IQ had gotten him the same treatment Sakura's had when she was seven and still attending public school: bumped up a grade and bullied. His bullies weren't as bad as hers were though, partly because he was more admired than hated, and partly because no one wanted to pick on the boy whose older sister was training to be a ninja.

"Alright, how about this," Sakura chuckled, wrapping an arm around Hiroki's shoulders. "You work, I talk, and when you get stuck on something, I'll help you out, okay?" Hiroki whooped his agreement and Sakura laughed again. "Okay, so this morning Tenten and I were sparing. . ."

For the next hour or so, Hiroki finished all of his math and science homework while Sakura told him all about her day, pausing now and then to help him out with something he didn't understand. When they finished, it was almost seven o'clock.

"Alrighty mister," Sakura told the yawning boy, "it's time for bed. Go get changed into your pajamas and I'll come tuck you in in a few minutes." The black-haired boy grinned, gathered his things, and rushed down the hall to his room. Lazily, the kunoichi changed into a pair of comfy pajama bottoms and tank-top, putting her forehead protector on her nightstand. She tossed her dirty clothes in the laundry basket and checked her parent's chakra signatures before leaving her room. Noting both father and mother were in her father's study, she continued on her way to Hiroki's room.

Said child was already in bed, bouncing up and down in his seat. Walking into his bathroom first, Sakura turned on his dim night light before going over to his bed. However, instead of tucking him in, she kneeled down, grabbed the purple dinosaur hidden there from their parents (who didn't believe boys should sleep with stuffed animals), and gave it to the little boy. Checking to make sure his alarm was set for tomorrow, she pulled the comforter up to his chin and tucked it in around him. Sitting down on the edge of his bed, Sakura brushed the hair out of his eyes and placed a kiss on his forehead.

"Goodnight otouto, sweet dreams." She whispered as she got up and moved towards the door.

"G'night, nee-chan." Hiroki yawned. "Good luck on your test tomorrow; I know you'll pass."

'_That makes one of us.'_ "Arigato, Hiroki-chan." Pausing with her hand on the doorknob, Sakura check her parent's positions, and, sensing the coast was clear, opened the door. She stepped out into the hallway, only to turn around at the sound of her name.

"Sakura?"

"Yes Hiroki?"

"I love you."

The pinkette smiled at her sleepy brother. "I love you too, Hiroki." With that she cracked the door close and went back to her room.

Entering her room again, Sakura yawned and stretched, popping several joints to wake herself up. With a sigh, she walked over to her desk, emptied her backpack of its textbooks, and started getting her things ready for tomorrow. She stuffed as many shuriken as possible into her navy blue shuriken holster, and then did the same for her kunai pouch, only she also added ten smoke bombs, two rolls of six-foot wire and a third of her explosive notes.

Next, Sakura took her extra shuriken and kunai holsters, filled them with the rest of her weapons, and then set them on the desk opposite the ones she would wear the next day. Opening her desk's top drawer, she pulled out two thick leather senbon holsters. Both were three-fourths the length of her forearm between her wrist and elbow, and one went in each pile.

From the bottom drawer, two first aid kits, one very large and the other much smaller, were withdrawn alongside a package of gauze. The bigger medical kit, meant for large wounds, went into her tan backpack first, followed by the other kit meant for small wounds, the gauze, and her three extra weapon holsters. The pack was then zipped up and ready to go next to her personal weapon wear.

Grabbing her haphazardly put away weight belt from earlier today, Sakura set it on her desk and went inside her shoebox of a walk-in closet. In the furthest corner of the space sat a medium sized, dented and scratched, puke army green, metal chest. It had belonged to her maternal great-grandfather, the only person on either side of her family lineage to ever become a ninja, sans herself.

He resigned at the age of fourteen shortly after making chunin, because "the ninja life wasn't for him."

Sakura though, was glad he'd kept the majority of his gear for their memories, even though no one had opened it for two generations until she'd stumbled upon it one day while cleaning the attic in punishment. Opening the trunk for the umpteenth time since bringing it to her room, the girl grabbed the pair of leg guards inside and as well as a heavy bundle of cloth. Bypassing the arm guards, Sakura closed the trunk and left the closet after picking up a shopping bag from Konoha's Shinobi Super Store.

She placed the items in a stack in the center of her desk and picked up her two empty ankle weights from her bookshelf. Transferring the weights in her belt to the ankle weights, the pinkette made sure each ankle weight had the exact same amount of weights in them. Setting the weights down on the desk and the now-empty belt pm the bookshelf, Sakura sighed, stepped back and went over her mental checklist.

"Looks like that's everything," she mumbled under her breath. Yawning, she glanced at the clock. Ten 'till eight, it was time for bed. Yawning again, Sakura sleepily set her alarm, crawled into bed, and was out like a light.

* * *

Sakura was not a morning person.

This would come as a surprise to many that knew of her usually happy attitude, but it was the truth. In fact, she was such a non-morning star that most people who smiled at her before breakfast would get a black eye (except Hiroki of course).

So, at three fifteen in the morning when she literally rolled out of bed to the sound of her annoying alarm clock, the pinkette was a full on zombie-comatose case. At three seventeen, when she'd finally connected that the detestable buzzing sound was her alarm clock and mustered up the energy to unplug the damn thing, she was only vaguely aware there was something important to be done today. She couldn't quite remember what that something was, but she was sure it would come to her after her empty, hungry tummy was filled to the brim.

It was actually halfway through her second bowl of cocoa pebbles that Sakura remembered what she was supposed to do today and, more importantly, what she was not supposed to have done.

"_You might want to skip breakfast tomorrow. . .or you'll puke."_

For a very long moment, the Haruno kitchenette was silent except for the _tick-tock_ of the clock. The young female stared mournfully at the rest of her breakfast: a half-empty bowl of cereal, one large banana, a tall glass of OJ, and a large mug of strong coffee. She was at a loss of where to go from here, and her wide emerald green doe-eyes stared at her would-be breakfast even as her bottom lip quivered at the thought of a breakfast ban.

'_Sakura.'_

'_. . .'_

'_Finish our damn breakfast; I'm still hungry.'_

'_I know, so am I! But Kakashi-sensei said-'_

'_Screw sensei!_ Inner Sakura growled. _'We've already eaten an entire bowl so we're probably gonna puke anyways. We might as well throw up a full stomach!'_

'_I suppose you're right. . .'_

'_Damn straight I am! Besides, we are female and thus have cravings that need to be fed, shannaro!'_

Completely persuaded, Sakura ginned and reached for her cereal bowl, bypassing her spoon entirely. "Sorry Kakashi-snesei," she whispered to the still air as she brought the bowl to her lips, "but my cocoa pebbles are calling me."

Forty minutes later, one thoroughly awakened kunoichi was stepping out of her bathroom in her underwear and bra, wet hair wrapped in a towel. Humming to herself, she moved over to her dresser and pulled out her usual black bike shorts and mesh and cloth tanktop. She slipped into them and tossed her towel in the laundry basket.

Stretching, Sakura walked over to her desk, picked up the shopping bag she'd placed there last night and emptied it of its contents. Inside had been a skirt, a cropped jacket, and two packages of body bandages, all of the same deep, dark red. It has taken her birthday money and five months' worth of allowances, but last week the Haruno girl had gone shopping for a new kunoichi uniform as her red dress simply didn't cut it (as pointed out to her by Tenten and, occasionally, Neji). She'd bought five of the same uniform plus two winter and two summer uniforms.

The one she would be wearing today was one of the five bought for normal weather. Grabbing one of the bandage packages, she ripped it open and wrapped her right arm from wrist to elbow in the blood red cloth, repeating the process for her left arm with the second package. Pausing to secure her shuriken holster to her right leg and her senbon one to her left, Sakura picked up her new skirt and buckled it on.

It was similar to that of a medic skirt, except for several differences, one of which being the fabric's red coloring. It went to mid thigh and had three pockets: one on the front left corner, one on the right hip, and one on the back left corner. The skirt also did not cover all of her left thigh; it began in the middle of her left thigh, covered front and back of her right one, and ended just past the middle of her back left thigh, giving her easy access to her senbon holster. The skirt was held up by a silver belt buckle at her left hip.

Bypassing the jacket for now, the girl lifted the heavy cloth bundle taken from the green trunk in her closet and unwrapped it. Snuggly tucked away amongst the cloth were a pair of sai. The three bladed daggers were resting in slightly magnetized sheaths, each attached to their own leather straps, meant to cross over the middle of her chest and her upper back in an X formation. Slipping on the strap into their correct positions, Sakura made sure they were adjusted so that the sai sat comfortably on her back. The reason the sheaths were magnetized, was that the weapons were upside down on her back, so that the handles were pointed to ground, and the minimal magnetization prevented the weapons from falling out.

Once her sai were resting comfortably, Sakura picked up her jacket and put it on. The red jacket was cropped to two inches below her bust line and sleeveless. It had a high collar, but in the front dropped in a V from her jawbone to the center of her collarbone. The jacket's zipper went down the center of the front, from the bottom of her collar's V to the vertex of an upside down V cut out of the bottom. The back had an identical upside down V cut out of the bottom center of it, and was also marked with a white circle in the back's center. _**(pic is at the bottom of my profile.)**_

Walking over to her nightstand the pinkette ran a quick brush through her hair, tied her hitae-ate headband atop her head like yesterday, and walked over to her full-length mirror. From a kunoichi's standpoint, she looked ready to kick butt. From a feminine standpoint. . .

'_We look hot, shannaro!'_ Inner Sakura crowed.

Sakura grinned and checked the time. _'Four twenty-five; I better get going.'_ She went back over to her desk, swung her pack over one shoulder, tucked her leg guards an ankle weights under one arm, and left her room. Heading down the hallway, she stopped outside Hiroki's room and peaked inside. Seeing her baby brother sleeping peacefully, the pre-teen smiled and cracked the door again before continuing on her way downstairs.

In the foyer, Sakura sat down, setting the leg equipment in her arms on the wooden floor next to her so she could slip on her standard navy blue shinobi sandals. Once both were one, she clipped one ankle weight over each, and then fastened on both leg guards. Standing up again, she slipped her free arm through her other shoulder strap, tightened her hitae-ate, and walked outside, locking the door behind her. In the next moment, Haruno Sakura was walking down the street, a determined grin on her face and anticipation flooding her veins.

She arrived at the training ground at the same time as her two teammates, each coming from a different direction. Naruto yawned something that might have been a greeting in another language, and while the female of the three was just as awake as Sasuke appeared to be, the blonde's yawns were starting to get contagious.

The trio stood waiting in silence beneath the still-dark, pre-dawn sky. The meeting time came and passed, and slowly Sakura's zeal slipped away with the time. At the one hour mark, Sakura was watching the sunrise from her seat on the dewy grass, Sasuke standing to her right doing the same, Naruto sound asleep to her left. An hour and a half later, Naruto woke up and groggily joined his teammates sitting in the shade beneath a nearby tree.

It was just under six hours past the meeting time when Kakashi deigned to show up. "Good morning class!" He called to them cheerfully, one hand held up in greeting.

"You're late!" Sakura and Naruto yelled in sync, jumping to their feet. Sasuke stood, crossed his arms, and glared at the white-haired man. Kakashi seemed to shrug, and walked over to the three stumps present in the training ground, setting an alarm clock pulled from his bag on the center one. He tapped the bell and turned back to face the genin.

"I've set this alarm to go off at noon." From his pocket he removed two belles. "Your challenge is to steal these form me before the timer goes off. Anyone who fails to get a bell will not get any lunch. Instead, you will be tied to that tree stump," he pointed to the one with the alarm clock, "while I eat my lunch in front of you."

Instantaneously, Naruto and Sasuke's stomachs growled and Sakura placed her hands over hers and thanked Kami she forgot to not eat breakfast this morning.

Kakashi jingled the bells. "All you need is one bell to pass," he said, "but since there are only two, one of you will definitely fail and be sent back to school. That doesn't mean two of you will automatically pass though." His lone eye crinkled in a way that suggested a smile beneath his mask. "After all, all three of you could fail to get a bell and be sent back to the academy." Sakura clenched her fists.

"You may use any weapon," he continued. "Attack as though you mean to kill, or you'll never even stand a chance."

'_As if to kill?'_ Sakura thought, frowning. _'I get that he wants us to go all out, but isn't that too dangerous?'_ Beside her, Naruto laughed.

"You couldn't even dodge an eraser!" The blonde shouted, arms folded behind his head. "You're gonna get yourself killed!"

". . .Only the weak speak loudly." The jounin drawled. "Now, let's forget the dead-last and we'll start on my signal." Sakura heard Naruto growl next to her, and she turned her head to look at him. Gasping at the sight of him preparing to throw a kunai at their sensei, she opened her mouth when-

"Relax," Kakashi said from behind Naruto, holding the boy's arm behind his head so that the kunai pointed at the back of the blonde genin's neck. "I haven't said 'start' yet."

Sakura's hand hovered over the handle of one of her sai, her mind speeding through a re-evaluation of the adult male. _'I didn't even see him move!'_ She growled to herself, tensing into a slight defensive crouch. _'We totally had this guy wrong; this isn't going to be anywhere near easy.'_

Kakashi chuckled, still holding Naruto in place. "But you struck to kill, so at least you're listening. Heheh, I might just be starting to like you guys.

"Now, ready. . . steady. . . GO!"

The four blurred into action.

* * *

**ZOMG! This was thirteen pages long on Microsoft…. Fifteen back and front sheets on college ruled paper….. my fingers hurt. T.T**

**Until next time, R&R plz!-**

**I.C**


	4. Pass it Forward

**Okay guys, it was a little harder putting this out than I thought but here it is. I want to thank everyone who stuck by me and encouraged me. You really don't know how much I needed it, these last few months especially. **

**FINALLY, chapter four, for your express pleasure.**

* * *

**Chapter Four: Pass it Forward**

Kakashi wasn't entirely sure what to make of his new team.

On the surface they certainly seemed a normal enough team, but Kakashi had long since gotten used to looking underneath the underneath. He knew the real reason Uchiha Sasuke was placed on a team with Uzumaki Naruto was more because of the sharingan's effect on the kyuubi than graduation scores. He also knew that the Sandaime was personally concerned with the isolation Uzumaki faced in his own village, and hoped by placing him on a team with someone as popular as the Uchiha would help.

Sarutobi-sama had told him all this when they both entered the orphan's apartment. Later, when Kakashi was sitting down to a chat with Uchiha Fugaku and his wife Mikoto, the silver-haired jounin privately thought the Hokage wouldn't need to worry much longer. While Fugaku was more concerned about Sasuke's teammates holding him back, Mikoto had looked as much like a mother hen as an Uchiha matriarch could upon hearing Naruto lived alone. Should the genin pass his test, he had the sinking suspicion that the blonde would be all but adopted into the family. And if the way Fugaku was eyeing his wife's frowning face, the clan head was thinking the same thing.

To be honest, with the issues facing both male members of his team- one under constant threat as a jinchuuriki, the other struggling to get out from under his father's high expectations and his brother's all-encompassing shadow- Kakashi had not given much thought to his female student. She was the only one he expected next to no problems from. At least, so he had thought (and earnestly hoped) until her mother answered the door.

He had heard of the Harunos, of course. The family has owned the largest construction company inside the Land of Fire for generations, and it was rumored the current head was trying to expand into neighboring allied countries. It was certainly odd that one of his children- the eldest, no less- became a kunoichi, but Kakashi had just assumed her parents were humoring the child's fleeting fancy. But when he introduced himself as her daughter's jounin sensei, Haruno Amaya's face went from politely curious to politely indifferent in a matter of seconds. Though she was never rude and even invited him in to tea, any questions he asked were vaguely answered at best. He was sorely tempted to ask how she and her husband handled Sakura's career choice, but he figured he would get a polite non-answer at most and at worst be booted out the door for his prying. It was well known the Harunos didn't take kindly to people intruding on their family life. Still, when he left an hour later, Kakashi resolved to pass on his concerns to the Hokage should the trio not pass, and to keep a close eye on the situation if they did. He's seen quite a few first-generation shinobi turned out from their families, or pressured into resigning, and sometimes even abused.

It was certainly a trio of problems handed to him in genin form. But, standing in the training ground as the three twelve year olds disappeared from sight and (mostly) sense, he found himself strangely hoping they'd pass.

After all, it was, in his experience, the most troubled nin who had the most potential.

* * *

Sakura breathed in the deep, earthy smell of her hiding place under a bush. Attempting, and failing, to calm her racing heartbeat, she tried force her mind empty, tried to think of a plan. Not two minutes into this, Naruto had revealed himself to Kakashi and was now getting his butt handed to him while their sensei read a book. The pinkette watched with narrowed eyes as Kakashi positioned himself behind Naruto with impossible speed. At the sight of his hands though, her eyes widened with a gasp. _'Ninjutsu…He's going to use a ninjustsu on Naruto! But that's way too advanced! Naruto'll be-'_

"Naruto! Get out of there! You'll be killed!" She'd shouted without thinking, and now her position was exposed. Swearing under her breath, she moved to a nearby tree, keeping a close eye on the battle below. Sakura clenched her teeth as Naruto landed in the river. _'A thousand years of pain, hah! He's just playing with us! There's no way I'll be able to take a bell from him; he's too good!'_

_'Maybe not directly, but leave the forward attacks to the boys. Come on, girl! You did not come all this way for nothing!'_

Sakura took a deep breath and watched the shuriken flying from the river land easily on Kakashi's fingers. He never even took his eyes from the book.

_'You're right, I at least have to try my hardest. But if this is going to work, it'll have to be on my turf.'_ With one last glance at the one-sided battle below, the kunoichi got to work.

* * *

Making her way swiftly through the undergrowth in a bid to relocate after Sasuke's 'surprise' attack in Kakashi's substitution, Sakura suddenly dropped to her knees at a glimpse of her sensei reading in a clearing just ahead. Praying he hadn't heard her, the pinkette slowly began the hand signs and the careful channeling of her chakra-

"Sakura, behind you."

She whirled around just in time for her to see Kakashi smile at her, hands held in a final seal. A wind swept through the area, fast and strong, rustling the leaves into a whirlwind around her, obscuring her sensei from view. A fog began to settle over her mind, and in a bolt of realization Sakura gasped.

'_Genjutsu!'_ Jumping back into the clearing, her hands flew into the correct sign.

"Kai!" The wind and leaves immediately settled. Smirking, Sakura swiftly sent a few shuriken at Kakashi's hiding spot. Like she knew he would, the jounin, moved into the open clearing his bushin had just been in. Facing him, Sakura sunk into a stance.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei," she called, trying to distract him a little, "if you'd read my file you would have known that genjutsu is my best subject. That's not going to work on me." She flashed him a disarming smile, her hand sinking slowly into her kunai pouch. This had to go just right.

"Second best. As I recall you were slightly more proficient elsewhere," he drawled, turning a page in his bright orange book. Sakura slid slowly to her left, and he eyed her over his book. Her hand tightened on the metal handles. "Though I do wonder if the word 'proficient' is too generous." And like the trigger to a spring loaded trap, her wrist snapped four kunai flying at him, immediately chasing after them. He nimbly dodged left only to jump back to dodge the kunai swipe. The man barely had to step aside to avoid the following shuriken, eyes on his book.

"It would seem your aim needs work-" sensing the weapons spinning towards his back the jounin sprang into the air to avoid them, only to twist away from the log that barreled towards him. Landing in a crouch, Kakashi danced around the eight Haruno Sakura's rushing towards him. They were regular bushin, unlike Naruto's solid shadow clones, and the experienced jounin easily picked out the real kunoichi. In the next second he was behind her, still reading his book when he grabbed the back of her collar to throw her across the clearing, narrowing his eyes when the girl disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The log tumbled to the ground and the jounin backed up a step and inwardly cursing when he stepped on several smoke bombs lying at his feet. The bushins he'd ignored earlier burst through the smoke cloud and dispersed in his face, clouding the air even more. Twisting around to avoid the sword slashing at his side, Kakashi turned his full attention on his book when his female student continued her taijutsu advance. It was obvious to both parties that even with the smoke obscuring some of her attacks he was clearly her superior in every way. So when he missed her arm by six inches and overreached, giving the pinkette the opening she needed to grab at the bells, the white haired man jerked away in surprise and was gone in the next heartbeat.

Clenching her teeth, Sakura stood in the rapidly disappearing smoke and tried to catch her breath. '_Damn it! I was so, so close!'_ That plan was a one-time only shot, and now she'd have to think of something on the fly. Bringing both sai up in a defensive position, she scanned the clearing with her chakra and ran through scenarios as the last of the smoke wafted away.

A cheerful chuckle broke through the silence, echoing from all sides. "Not bad, not bad. A displacement genjutsu set so subtly you almost got me. But almost only counts in horse-shoes, Sakura-chan!" Scowling, she glared at the trees for a moment and the closed her eyes in an attempt to pinpoint his location. "In case you're wondering my little student, what gave you away was the obvious gap in the miss. A jounin doesn't miss by six inches; but that's a rookie mistake, being so obvious. Hopefully…"

"…you'll learn." The sudden spike of chakra behind her had her whirling around to- nothing. The clearing was empty. '_Did he leave?'_

'_He better not have! We are so not finished here! SHANNARO!'_

'_Shush, Inner. What was that chakra spike for?'_ When nothing happened in the next few minutes, Sakura slowly eased out of her defensive position. She couldn't for the life of her figure out what was going on. Kakashi had obviously left, but something still felt off about the space around her. The complete silence was setting her teeth on edge and she was rapidly losing her patience.

"Graaahhh! KAKASHI-SENSEI! Quit the crap and get out here!"

"Onee-chan." Squealing like a startled rabbit, Sakura spun to face the voice and brought up her sai once more, only to still at the sight before her.

Her Hiroki, her darling little brother, was slumped against the trees, stuck like a fleshy pin cushy with kunai and shuriken. He was missing an ear and an arm from the elbow down, and a large gash bisected his right eye. The ground soaked up more blood than she'd ever seen in her life. "On-nee-chan," he called again, and though Sakura couldn't breathe, could barely hear him over the roaring in her ears, the next she knew she was at his side choking out assurances that everything would be okay, she'd make it all okay. The genin gathered the broken boy in her arms just as he gasped his last breath. Accusing, lifeless green eyes stared up at her.

Sakura screamed.

* * *

Honestly, Kakashi thought, glaring at his would-have-been students, genin these days knew next to nothing about what it meant to be a ninja. Though to be fair, they didn't grow up in a war like he did. Still. He had expected better, especially of these three, though he couldn't say why for the life of him.

He'd gathered the three of them to the posts when alarm went off, and Sasuke and Sakura were sat on either side of their blonde teammate, who was tied to the middle post. Uzumaki should have known better than to try and steal the lunches, but the child had been screaming bloody murder since he'd been tied up, only quieting for a moment when Kakashi had escorted a red-eyed, sniffling Sakura to the area.

Both boys in fact had looked concerned at her obvious distress, though the blonde had translated said concern to death threats at making "their Sakura-chan cry!" Even the Uchiha's death glare and gotten a little icier at his appearance. Really, their concern for her was strange, considering none of the three had even considered helping each other. Kakashi eyed the female who'd outwardly clamed but still held the water bottle dug from her pack in a white-knuckled grasp and wondered if she would have nightmares from whatever the Hell Viewing technique had shown her. Guiltily remembering the way she'd been mumbling about her otouto between gasps when he found her, he thought that was a pretty sure bet.

She needed to learn to harden her heart though, the same way the Uchiha needed to rid himself of his arrogance and Naruto needed to think before he leapt. The way all of them needed to learn teamwork was everything to a ninja.

So he gave them The Speech, listing out their individual faults and telling them to quite while they were behind since they'd never cut it in the shinobi situations. When he tackled Sasuke to the ground (does it really only take one prod at his pride to provoke him? _Really?_), he was even so kind as to demonstrate one of said enemy tactics. (Truly, they should thank him. He was being quite generous, spelling it all out for them.) By the time he'd finished telling them about the memorial stone, looking underneath the underneath, and, most importantly, that shinobi who broke the rules were trash, but that those who abandoned their friends were worse than trash, they were quiet.

In fact, they were so quiet and contrite looking, sneaking peeks at their teammates from the corner of their eyes in shame, that Kakashi felt his deeply buried heartstrings twang. Just a little bit. So he went with his gut and gave them a second chance.

Listening to them divvying up the lunches, Kakashi couldn't help but smile a little- though that Sakura had actually eaten breakfast made him pout a bit inside- because it seems he was right. They did have the potential to be great, and for once Kakashi was glad the old man had assigned him a team. So it was that the smile he gave them when he passed _his_ genin was genuinely proud and pleased.

He really couldn't wait to get started.

* * *

** Alright, I hope you all enjoyed it. I'll try to update really soon! (Or as soon as I can crank out a good chapter!) I'm thinking there's going to be more family action next. Itachi most likely be in the next one, but don't quote me on that. I'm also planning to take Kakashi's training techniques in a different direction the manga went, which is to say there will be actual training. Let me know how you liked Kakashi's POV, ESPECIALLY his thoughts on Sakura's family. I'm really interested in some feedback on that front. **

**See you all next time! And thanks again for your support.**

**-I.C.**


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